The Alpha's Secret

Chapter 2: The Secret

Alaric:

I sat next to the roaring fire in my fathers private quarters and closed my eyes as the heat from the flames warmed me, like a heated blanket on a cold winter night.

“Oh, good, you are here already.” Came my fathers voice, jolting me from my trance. I opened my eyes and watched as he took a seat opposite me, and I noticed that he was nervous. My father was never nervous. He was a stern man who always seemed like nothing in the world phased him, but I had a feeling that whatever he wanted to talk to me about would change my opinion.

“Son, we need to talk." He said before pausing. "And what I am about to tell you, cannot leave this room, do you understand?” I nodded my head and urged him to continue. Something about his demeanour unerved me, and my heart began to race. “Thea is not who I had you and everyone believe her to be, and now that you will be The Dark Moon's packs alpha, it’s your responsibility to hold this secret until it is the right time for the world to know who she truly is.” I leant back in my chair and felt as my hands became sweaty and clammy. I wasn't so sure I was ready to hear what he was about to say. “The girl who I brought home with me 15 years ago is actually Princess Athena Rieka Havaror.”

The moment those words left my fathers mouth, my jaw may as well have hit the floor. What in the name of Selene was he talking about? Thea? The princess Athena? The princess that everyone believed was dead?

Well, that was what everyone was told. I remembered the day that it was announced because our servants wept and wept, which at the time was rather strange to me. But I remembered them talking about how the princess, heir to the werewolf throne, had died peacefully in her sleep. Why would anyone lie about such a thing?

My father waved his hand at me in order to break me from my thoughts, and he waited until he had my full attention again before continuing.

“In order to protect her from the Kings brother, Prince Axel Havaror, the King and Queen made the decision to fake their daughters death and asked me to raise her here in England under a false indentity."

My father sighed and went silent for a while. He seemed to be remembering something, and by the look on his face, whatever it was, it saddened him.

"Dad, are you okay?" I asked, wondering whether there was anymore he was going to tell me. He looked at me and sighed once again before continuing.

"Princess Athena, or Thea as you have always known her, will be the one to take the throne when her father dies. This is because if Prince Axel becomes King, he will drive the werewolf kingdom into ruin... It is important that Athena becomes our Queen, or we are all doomed.” I absorbed all of the information the best I could, but some things did not make sense to me. Why if Prince Axel was to take the throne, would we all be doomed? I knew that Axel was a deranged wolf who was power-hungry and psychotic in his beliefs, but surely that would not affect us werewolves.

As if to answer my question, my father took a book that i had never seen before from the small table beside his chair and opened it up. He handed me the old book, and I looked down at the yellowing pages, trying not to sneeze as the dust particles had been released into the air.

If the Raven is to sit upon the throne

The two towers will fall

Leaving Gaia’s creation into ruin

And a certain death to all

When the dove flies towards the falcon

And a flame is lit with desire

Then there is hope for all

As written in the stars by Gaia

If the Dove is to sit upon the throne

The falcon by her side

The two towers will still stand tall

Gaia's creation will stand with pride

I reread the prophecy over and over again, trying to make sense of the riddle in front of me when my father took the book from my hands.

“There is something else.” He said, this time kneeling down in front of me.

“What?” I whispered, knowing full well this only going to get more and more complicated.

“You have to marry her.” I shook my head at his words and stared into his eyes, hoping that this was some sort of joke, but it became clear quite quickly that this was no joke. He was deadly serious.

“Why? This is ridiculous. She is my childhood best friend... I don’t see her as anything else, plus thanks to you, we are now practically strangers! I am not marrying her.” I cried, standing from my seat angrily and I walking towards the door.

“Son, in order for the prophecy to be fulfilled, she will need her protector by her side, and he will become her king. She needs a king to rule with her and to protect her. Without the blood of the heir running through the kingdom, werewolves will die out. It was a curse put on the original werewolf King Ivar by a witch. If anything happens to Princess Athena and the bloodline isn’t continued, the werewolf race will die out... It became clear to me, the day that you and Thea met, that you were her protector. She the dove and you the falcon. The way that you could calm her instantly by just being around her and the unbreakable bond that you have tells me everything I need to know. You have to marry her, and you have to protect her, and in time, you must produce an heir. But for now, son, Thea can not know a thing about any of this... no one can. She isn’t ready yet.”

With that my father walked past me and left me alone to dwell on everything he had just said and the entirety of our conversation played in my mind over and over again until I found myself thinking back to when we were kids. For nights on end I would read her stories about princesses and how there was a knight that always saved the day and slayed the dragon, it seems quite ironic now but she loved those stories and it seemed to be the only thing that would take her mind off of being taken from her home. There were times that she would unintentionally put herself in danger and I would always save her, like the time she dove into our lake assuming the whole thing would be shallow, at the time she couldn’t swim and although I was in the mansion, I felt this overwhelming urge to be near her. I saved her life that day, but reliving these memories did not make things anymore clearer. I couldn't marry her, and I couldn’t be her falcon or her king.

Thea:

The moment that I stepped foot into the mansion, I had half expected Alaric to be waiting for me, but he was nowhere to be seen, and neither was his father. I was a little disappointed, but my childhood friend Dhalia was standing by the staircase waiting for me to notice her. I looked over at her and smiled, noticing that she hadn’t changed one bit. Her pale skin was a stark contrast to her long, straight, black hair, and her light brown eyes always seemed to carry a mischievous sparkle. She opened her arms out to me with a big Cheshire grin on her face, and I dropped everything I was holding and threw myself into her arms.

“I have missed you so much!” I giggled as we held each other for what seemed like only seconds, but I am sure we were standing there for a while.

“I am so glad you are back; I have been so lonely without you! It’s not fun having to hang around with boys all the time.” She muttered as we both pulled away from one another. I turned around to get my bags but noticed they had already been taken, no doubt by one of the servants. I took another look around at the place that I had always called home, noticing that nothing had changed. The decor remained the same, silver and emerald green wallpaper coated the walls, and the white and green mosaic flooring looked as though it had just been cleaned. I pulled my eyes away from my surroundings and focused back on Dhalia.

“What do you mean? There are loads of girls our age that live here!” I said as we began to go up the long wooden staircase, which I had not missed at all.

“Yeah, but they are too girly and bitchy! I have literally only ever really hung around with Alaric and Elias, all three of us have missed you.”

“How are Elias and Alaric?” I asked, thinking back to my friends. I was so excited to see them both again!

“Well Elias is going to be Alaric’s Beta, so that’s all I have heard him talk about, and Alaric is still just Alaric, serious and quiet although he is very handsome, all the girls swoon over him."

Before I knew it, Dhalia and I had reached my bedroom where we had spent many nights telling one another ghost stories and attempting to climb out of my window without getting caught. I looked around, taking in the bright pink wallpaper that matched the baby pink carpet and shook my head, that really needed to be changed!

“So, let’s get to the point. You messaged me last week and mentioned something about you and Elias, but you never told me what. So come on, spill the beans.” Dhalia sighed, and we both threw ourselves on to bed before facing one another to talk, this was something we had always done as kids when one of us was about to tell the other some juicy gossip.

“So, we are kind of together.” She admitted as a blush spread across her pale cheeks.

“I’m sorry, but what?” I laughed, wondering whether she was pulling my leg or not. Her and Elias always argued and fought with one another when we were kids. The number of times Alaric had to pull them apart was ridiculous, but I guess people grow up and feelings change...

“Uh huh. I love him, Thea, like I am in love with him.” She whispered, her eyes full of longing. It was clear to see she was besotted with him.

“Is it serious? Like really serious, or is it all new?” I asked, intrigued. I had so much to catch up on. Everything had changed, and although i liked that change, it was something I had to get used to. I also liked that change because it would be nice not to have to listen to Elias and Dhalia squabble but instead enjoy being around one another, I never thought it would be possible that two people who had once hated one another, would end up falling in love.

“Serious enough for us to, you know… have sex.” At her words, I began to choke on thin air, I did not expect her to say that.

“Oh, my goddess, really? I heard it hurts the first time. Does it actually hurt?” I asked, remembering the conversations that the girls at my boarding school had with one another when they spoke about losing their virginities.

“Yeah, it does the first time, but not for long. Plus orgasms sort that out. It’s amazing” I began to laugh again and sat up from my bed before letting out a sigh.

“I guess I had better get showered and changed. Kane rang me when i was on my way home, and he mentioned something about me having dinner with him and our soon to be new Alpha at 6, and it's quarter past 5 now.” Dhalia mimicked my actions and sat up before jumping up to her feet, and I watched as she began to rummage through my bags, which had been left here by the servants.

“What are you going to wear? It needs to be something nice because you haven’t seen Alaric in years. He has changed so much, and did i say he is really handsome?” I shook my head at her laughed, she knows full well I am not a girly person despite the awful colour of my room. But yet I can guarantee she will choose the most feminine thing I own. And I was right, Dhalia had chosen for me to wear a long emerald green satin dress which had a slit that started at the top of my top thigh. The sleeves on the dress were long, which I liked but low-cut at my chest, revealing my cleavage... and that was something I wasn't too sure of.

“Isn’t this a bit much?” I asked her as I slipped into a silver pair of stilettos.

“Nope, it’s a formal dinner, and now you are a woman. You have to dress the part.” Dhalia grinned before sliding a beautiful diamond encrusted clip into my long auburn hair. I took one last look in the mirror before sighing.

“Okay, here it goes.” I whispered, suddenly feeling extremely nervous.

I stepped into the familiar dining room and looked around, remembering all of the times Alaric and I had food fights, much to his father’s dismay, and I smiled. The mansion was full of such good memories, and it was so nice to be back. I began to walk towards the rectangular dining table, listening as Alaric and his father were deep in conversation, neither noticing I was there until I cleared my throat. Both men stopped talking suddenly and looked at me in a way they had never done before.

“Thea, my girl! Welcome home.” Kane cried, pushing his chair out and getting up to stand. He took hold of my hands and studied my face. “You look so beautiful, my dear. You have grown into a fine young lady. It's so nice to have you home.” The man who had taken me in when my parents had died, kissed my cheek before pulling out my chair and signalling for me to sit down but before I could Alaric placed his hand on my arm, which sent my heart into a rhythm that was unusual for me. I turned around and looked up at my friend and was lost for words. Gone was the young boy who had always protected me. He was tall, muscly, and extremely handsome now, and he smelt of aftershave and traces of sweat. It was obvious by his scent that he had been working out today. It was intoxicating. After I took every single detail of him in, I looked up at those familiar pale blue eyes, and my heart skipped a beat. He was the most beautiful man I had ever seen. Alaric smirked at me, and I realised that I was gawking at him, and I felt as my cheeks warmed. He pulled me into his arms, and I listened to the sound of his racing heart as I clung on to him the way I did when we were children.

I had missed this so much; I had missed him so much. We reluctantly pulled away from each over, and that dopey grin that I had always loved, spread across his lips.

“You haven’t grown very much, have you, pixie.” I narrowed my eyes at him and nudged him playfully on the arm.

“Don’t call me that.” I whined. He always called me pixie when we were kids. It was his pet name for me because apparently, I was small and always getting into mischief. I crossed my arms across my chest and narrowed my eyes at him once more.

“I have a bone to pick with you. Why did you stop writing to me?” I asked before sitting down into my seat.

“I am sorry, life got in the way. I had every intention in writing back every time I got a letter, but I just got distracted by this Alpha nonsense.”

I wasn’t happy with his response but accepted it because I was just so happy to see him and finally be back where I belonged.