The Alpha's Secret

Chapter 7: Falling In love

Thea:

I begrudgingly opened my eyes and stifled a yawn, I was not ready to face the world today, let alone the pack and Alaric. I thought he would have said something to me after I told him I remembered that we had imprinted, but instead, he just sat in silence, and that silence spoke volumes.

I pulled my phone from my bedside table and strained my eyes as the light from it obscured my vision. Once they had adjusted I looked at the time, it was only 8am, but I had agreed to help Elias train the packs fighters today and I still needed to ring Dhalia and apologise for not meeting her at the guest house when I said that I would.

I reluctantly sat up from the warmth and safety of my bed and flung my legs over the side. My knuckles had completely healed overnight, and somehow, the bandage had unwrapped itself while I was sleeping.

I made my way over to my bathroom and turned on the shower before removing my pj’s.

After I had showered and gotten ready for training, I hurried down the stairs and waited for Elias outside of Alaric’s office. The door opened at exactly nine, but it wasn’t Elias standing there. It was Alaric.

"Morning." He grumbled, looking as though he hadn't slept a wink. I forced a smile, but I felt nothing but sadness when I looked at him, and just as he was about to say something else to me, Elias rounded the corner.

"Thea! What are you doing here?" Elias asked, taking in my outfit.

"I agreed to train the soldiers with you."

"Oh, but Dhalia said that you were going out with her today?" My face dropped, oh my goddess, I did! f**k, well this is awkward.

"Oh yeah, s**t I forgot about that. Can I not just do both? Train with you this morning and go with Dhalia after lunch." I suggested, hoping that I could. Elias shrugged.

"I don't see why not."

"Hold up, what is it you're meant to be doing with Dhalia?" Alaric asked after listening to mine and his betas conversation.

"We are going shopping, I need a change of scenery and I could do with some new clothes." Alarics face dropped, and he immediately shook his head.

"Absolutely not!"

"What, why not?" I asked, stunned.

"Because I said no!" Alaric growled, seemingly getting irritated, he then looked at Elias. "Tell Dhalia to organise something else that is not off of the pack grounds." Elias nodded his head and scurried off as fast as he could, leaving myself and Alaric to argue it out.

"Why can I not leave the pack grounds?" I cried, looking at my friend angrily.

"I have already told you Thea, because I said no!" Alaric answered, his voice low, but I could see he was getting agitated.

"Well, I am sorry, but no, it is not a reason! Is this because of what I did yesterday?" I asked, following him out of the mansion.

“Thea just stop! Take no for an answer for f***s sake and for once do as you are told.” Alaric said through clenched teeth, after stopping dead in his tracks and turning to face me.

“What, so now I am your prisoner? No! I have rights and I have the right to leave this mansion if I want to, you do not own me and you cannot tell me what to do.” As soon as those words left my mouth, Alaric’s eyes flashed blue and then darkened.

“I am your Alpha, you do what I tell you to do, and if keeping you a prisoner here is what it is going to take for you to learn that, then so be it.” I watched as he walked away, and i was absolutely stunned. How dare he!

“I hate you.” I growled, turning on my heel and storming back into the mansion. I marched into the packs gymnasium and found Elias training the young men who were soon to become new soldiers for the pack. Everyone looked at me, and then their eyes darted to Elias nervously. My face was clearly giving away my frustration and fury. I was over Alaric s**t!

“Thea, how are you doing?” Elias asked, trying to act chirpy and like nothing was wrong, clearly putting on a facade for the nervous young men.

“Just tell me what you want me to do!” I growled, looking ahead at the punching bags. Elias looked at me nervously and noticed what I was staring at.

“How about you teach the boys how to do self-defence?” He suggested, looking over to the large group of male werewolves that were trying to act as though they were not curious as to why I was there.

I took in a deep breath in through my nose and then exhaled. I would rather teach them how to punch their damn Alpha, but self-defence would have to do.

Alaric:

I heard her tell me that she hates me, and if that’s the consequence of me keeping her safe, then so be it. How can I let her off of the pack grounds when I have to protect her? I have a pack to run, and I can’t concentrate on that while she is out gallivanting getting up to goddess knows what.

She even admitted herself that while she was at boarding school, she would sneak out and get drunk and then tattoo her beautiful body. After last night’s turn of events, I had to increase my security as well, I now had another two guards at the gates, two on each side as well as others walking the whole perimeter of the grounds, making sure no one got in, and that she specifically didn’t get out.

This whole situation was turning into a disaster, and at risk of it all was a friendship that I cherished the most in this world.

I continued walking towards Dhalia’s house and was surprised to see her marching towards me, clearly also angry. What is it with me and pissing off women?!

“Alaric what is going on? Why can I and Thea not go shopping?” She asked, looking very annoyed.

“You can. She can’t.” I replied, crossing my arms against my chest, I would not be explaining myself to anyone, including Dhalia.

“But why? Is it because of what happened last night?” Dhalia asked.

I could see that she too was confused, but I had already broken my promise to my father by telling Elias everything about Thea, I couldn’t tell Dhalia too.

“Dhalia, I have my reasons, and it's best that Thea stays here at least until she stops putting herself in dangerous situations. I am not explaining why anymore to her or you. As my friend trust me on this please and if you can’t do that, then I am telling as your alpha.

Do not question me about it again.”

Dhalia looked as though I had slapped her, and she just nodded her head before turning away and going back into her house.

I sighed and tilted my head back, so I was looking at the sky and stood there for a second. Now, both Dhalia and Thea were upset with me, great, both of my friends hated me!

Thea:

I had spent the entire day helping Elias out with the boys and this time I actually enjoyed myself, it was good to release some of my pent up anger and each time I hit one of the punching bags I imagined it to be Alaric’s face.

I had absolutely no idea what had happened to him. He had changed… Maybe it was the alpha authority going to his head? I would never have thought that Alaric would allow that to happen, though. He didn’t even want to be an Alpha when we were kids. He had told me so many times that he just wanted to be like all of the other young werewolves and that he just wanted to be a ‘normal’ kid. Maybe he had become bitter the older he had gotten?

I listened as Elias and the others left the gymnasium, and I continued to hit and kick the freestanding punching bag, hoping that it would make me feel better, but instead, it took me back to my childhood.

Another child, a boy, had pushed me over and mocked me, asking if I was going to go and tell Alaric what had done. He teased me all the time for having Alaric fight my battles, but he didn’t realise that Alaric was standing behind him.

The boy and Alaric had gotten into a huge fight, and it was so bad that Kane had to drag Alaric away, and the other boy had to be hospitalised.

But what that kids had said struck a nerve with me, and I was determined to learn to fight my own battles, and I did... with Alaric’s help.

He wasn’t sure at first, I think he liked me being a damsel in distress and him my knight in shining armour, we were only seven and nine years old but Kane told him that he would be going to boarding school and so he wouldn’t always be around to protect me.

For weeks, Alaric and Kane helped me learn how to fight, and while Alaric was away, Kane taught me all types of combat, suitable for a child. But once he got too busy, he organised a mixed martial arts teacher from another of the surrounding packs to come into the mansion and teach me self-defence. By the time I got to boarding school, I was top of my class, and it made Kane so proud. I wrote to Alaric about it all, but he seemed to lose interest in me as time went on.

I shook my head and stopped what I was doing. This was supposed to be making me feel better, but instead, I felt worse. I turned away from the punching bag and looked up at the gymnasium door. Standing there watching me was Alaric.

Alaric:

I watched her for a good half an hour before she finally stopped hitting and kicking that punching bag. I wondered what was going through her mind because towards the end, she began to slow down, and her punches and kicks became weaker and weaker.

I hated the fact that I had to keep her prisoner here, but I had no choice. I had to keep her safe and I was beginning to realise that it was nothing to do with what my father had said, or the prophecy and I didn’t think it had anything to do with our friendship... it had everything to do with her and how she made me feel, and that is what was beginning to scare me the most.

Thea picked up her water bottle and walked straight past me, almost like I was invisible to her. She was still pissed off with me clearly.

My phone began to buzz in my pocket, pulling me away from watching after her, and I pulled it out, swiping the screen to answer.

“Hey mate… are you okay?” Elias asked, his voice low and almost like a whisper.

“Could be better…" Are you okay?” I asked, realising that he was talking low because he was around other people.

“Not really. Can we go for a few drinks tonight? Me and Dhalia have had an argument, and by the looks of Thea today, so did you two.”

I sighed and began to walk towards my bedroom.

“Yeah, why not. Meet me by the gates in an hour.”

After showering and getting changed into smart but casual clothing; a shirt and jeans. Elias and I made our way to a club that we had become regulars at in the past couple of years.

It was a strip club that was owned by my father, not that he ever went to it.

My dad owned a lot of clubs and bars around the UK, although not by choice. They were once owned by my grandfather, who wasn’t exactly the friendliest of Alphas or wolves. He treated my grandmother with such disrespect, sleeping with other women and beating her... and even then, she had loved him unconditionally.

I think that is why my father doted on my mother so much, he didn’t want her to ever feel the way his own mother did, he wanted her to know that she was his whole world and that he would always love her unconditionally, so when she passed away so suddenly, his whole world came crashing down and I believed that the only reason why it didn’t kill him was because he had me and then he took in Thea.

We were his reasons to live, not the pack. He would have given that up if my mother had asked him to, and I know at times he thought about it.

“Alaric! How are you handsome.” Jeanette purred, her pale pink eyes twinkling under the flashing lights above us. I nodded at the witch in front of me and forced a smile.

Jeanette ran the club for my father, he had made a point of employing witches after my grandfather died because the man was so cruel to them, he treated them like they were scum all because of a feud that went back thousands of years.

Over time, though, things changed, and instead of waring with one another, werewolves and witches alike became allies, but there were some werewolves that were still stuck in their old ways.

“You seem tense, my dear. Would you like your usual?” She asked, nodding her head to one of the barmen. I smiled appreciatively and watched as the witch glided across the club, keeping a watchful eye on all of her staff.

She was a very tall woman, with jet black hair which was always clipped up in a neat bun and although she only looked as though she was in her later thirties, she was actually over three-hundred years old.

Once Elias and I were given our drinks, we sat in one of the private VIP booths and began to talk, the twinkling lights above us, lighting up our faces.

“So, what happened between you and Dhalia?” I asked, watching as Elia’s face fell, and he began to look angry.

“She is mad because Eve messaged me, and I replied.” He grumbled. “Like just because she is my ex, apparently we can’t be friends.”

I smiled and shook my head. Dhalia was definitely a very jealous girl, but Elias was just as bad, and they would clash all the time over it.

“Probably not a good idea that we came here then?” I said, looking around at all of the women and men who were dancing sexily with hardly any clothes on.

“Oh no, she is fine with this because she knows I don’t have any history with any of the women here, but as soon as Eve says hello, or messages me, I’m in trouble, I mean I have imprinted with Dhalia, she knows that means something to me and that I don’t want anyone else but her.

Eve is getting married in a couple of months. We have both moved on.”

I listened as Elias carried on talking, and it was actually nice to know that i wasn’t the only man at that damn mansion having women troubles.

“So any way, how did it go with Thea earlier?” Elias asked, clearly happy now he had gotten everything off of his chest.

“Not good. She accused me of keeping her as a prisoner at the mansion, told me that I don’t own her and that she has rights… Oh, and she told me that she hates me.”

“So it went well then?” Elias said, trying to lighten the mood a little.

“To be fair, the prisoner part I understand because that is basically what I am doing... I just wish I could tell her why. But to say she hates me, man, that stung, I’m not going to lie.”

“You know she didn’t mean it. She is just angry and confused.” Elias said, trying to make me feel better.

But it didn’t because I honestly believed that she meant it.

“Have you spoken to her since?” Elias asked, nodding his thanks at the barmaid that had placed another two drinks in front of us.

“Nah, I thought about it and I did go to the gymnasium to talk to her, but I just kind of froze, instead I watched her beat the s**t out of a punching bag and then when she did see that I was there... I still didn’t say anything. What do I say to her? I can’t tell her anything until certain people give the say-so, and it is just making things worse.”

“Have you thought about trying a little harder with her? Maybe spending some time with her? She is your mate Alaric; you have to do something. The girl is probably feeling rejected by you, and I know that you love her, so why don’t you just give her some of your time?”

I listened to what he had said and nodded my head but was still unsure.

“You know why I can’t. If I let her into my heart in the way it craves me to and she finds out about everything, then it could destroy what we have, and I don’t want to hurt like my dad did.” Elias sighed and leant back in his chair.

“That’s a little different. Your mum passed away, Thea is still here, and by doing this, you are pushing her away. When she finds out about it all, yeah, she might be angry. I mean, I would be, but she will understand, and she will see that you had no choice in any of it.”

“Yeah, but when it all comes out, everything will change. The moment the world knows who she is, there will be a man hellbent on killing her.”

“And that is why she needs her mate, to protect her and fight alongside her. Enjoy your time with her now, Alaric, because you are right... everything will change, and this will be the ultimate test on you both.

Live in the here and now because worrying does not take away tomorrows troubles. It takes away today’s peace.”