She's The Alpha

Chapter 1: Six Years Later…

E M B E R

"Let me help you with that, Landry," I call out after noticing a pack member with boxes that look quite heavy compared to his lanky figure.

"Oh! No need, Alpha — " Taken aback, Landry gasps and politely protests in vain as I unburden him with those boxes.

"It's okay! I don't mind it at all."

I smile, and we walk into the kitchen with many wolves working.

"Thank you, Alpha!" Landry says after I set the boxes down and wave a hand at him before I look around. I take note of every wolf working in sweat yet still smiling.

"Everyone is working hard for the banquet, I see."

Landry notes with a nod and clicks his tongue. "Yes, Alpha! The banquet is one of the ways to meet other packs, so everyone's morale is just so high."

Yeah, it gives everyone an excuse to dress slutty and party. I grin. "That's good to hear."

"Anyway, have you seen Dex?" I ask absentmindedly when someone snaps their fingers near my face.

I blink and turn with a slight frown to see a man standing at 5’9” with shaggy brown hair styled back and dark hazel eyes. He smiles at me. I click my tongue. "Ah, Lowe."

"Alpha!" He bows to greet me before we stay in silence.

Do you have something to tell, Dex? I ask my Beta through the mind link.

He locks eyes with me and sighs. It's a lovely morning, Alpha. How about we go for a round? We can talk then.

I give him a deadpan expression as he chirpily smiles. It's so annoying, yet I roll my eyes and grunt before I excuse myself from the kitchen, followed by my Beta.

The two of us take a stroll in silence. I have my hands behind my back like an authority figure. Well, I am the authority figure — at the top as the Alpha of Crimson Shadow. The pack used to be called the Midnight Crew, but that night when the rage made me let Rayne out, I noticed how bloody red the moon looked, and I renamed it.

Hence, Crimson Shadow.

My wolf, Rayne, a white wolf of about 10 feet in height and crimson-red eyes, greets back with an excited howl.

I take a deep breath and sigh at the pleasant sky. It's an ordinary summer morning.

Chirpier and calmer than usual.

I love the breeze cooling me down in this heat when a pack member looks over as she greets me with a pleasing smile, "Good morning, Alpha and Beta!"

"Ah, yes! Good morning to you, too, Christie! Are the goods coming today?" I ask as the lady beams at me.

"They already did!"

"I see. Tsk!" I nod.

Dexter and I then excuse ourselves and move on until I notice an elder outside her house.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" I rush to her as she looks over at me. "Oh, it's you, my dear little Alpha."

"I am not little anymore." I playfully pout as the elder nudges and teases me. "You will always be that adorable little girl for me, Alpha."

I smile and hold her hand. "Well, are you getting hot water now, Elder Eisha?"

She smacks her lips and pats my cheek. "Oh, of course, my persistently sweet Alpha, and thank you for even trying to fix it yourself."

I tilt my head and place my hand over hers on my face as I beam.

My Beta and I once again excuse ourselves and reach a lush field right across the house belonging to the Alpha, aka – me, bustling with activities, from carpentry to young pups being trained by the pack warriors, when his voice intervenes, "Time really flies."

I faintly smile, "Yeah, it does," and then point out, "Remember those tiring sessions and classes by our instructors hired by the council head, Dex?"

"I remember them," he groans and murmurs, "I even remember how Flora, you, and I used to bunk those classes to hang in the main town."

"Yeah, but despite all of it, it has been so rewarding."

He takes a breath and states in a mocking tone, "Woah, you seriously have grown up, Em."

I roll my eyes and shrug. "What can I say? I don't think I am programmed to be reckless. I do what I have been taught. It's my duty to be the generous leader of the pack, isn't it?"

My Beta silently agrees with a nod and then clicks his tongue, "You know, now it would be nice to have someone to depend on —"

I startle and interrupt him with a groan as I drag my feet forward in defiance and huff, "Ugh, why do you always try to tell me to look for my mate? If not found, then not found."

For werewolves, mates are a serious thing. Having a mate is for a lifetime. We have been programmed to meet our mates and we long and search for them even before we are transformed. The typical mate bond and our wolves believe that we will die without the other.

I shrug and scoff, "What's the big deal? I like to have control over my life, which I do not intend to relinquish to someone else. I have other important things to focus on than finding someone and making a family."

"It's not like that." He tilts his head and smiles. "It's always nice to have someone in your life to make you smile even when they are not around."

I roll my eyes and grunt before I change the topic with a clap as I clear my throat, "Speaking of, congratulations on the birth of your third child. How's Rachel?"

Surrendering, my best friend shakes his head and sighs before answering, "Oh, everything's great, and Rachel is healing quickly, thanks to you. Laurie and Joe are old enough to help her when I am out."

I sarcastically exclaim, "I can't believe you are a father already! I remember what a douche you were in high school."

Flushed, Dex scratches his head and grins, "Well, it has been six years since then, and love has changed me."

Love? My smile fades for a moment but I shake my head and cough up, smiling widely, "Oh, when are you showing me her photo?"

"But you already have seen my Millie, Em." He only calls me by my name or nickname when we are alone.

I tilt my head and give my best friend a deadpan look as he sighs, "Fine! Would you like to see her photo, Alpha?"

I jolt straight and sarcastically beam, "I thought you’d never ask."

We stop and Dex takes out his phone to show me the picture of his daughter. "Here."

"Sure. Let me see." I look over his shoulder and at his screen. "Aww, she is very cute. What did you name her? She looks exactly like your wife, but she’s got your nose."

"Amelia, and yeah, she does."

I blink to find myself looking at him. Dexter Lowe, my best friend and the Beta of my pack. He has been with me through everything I suffered and helped me endure my life, especially after those bloodsuckers attacked and murdered my parents.

It felt so unbelievable yet fantastic when someone like him, a playboy douche, turned into a whipped family guy. So, I must say, meeting Rachel changed him for the better. I watch him stare so lovingly at the pictures that it makes me smile.

"Now, I only wish for you to have someone in your life to make you laugh until your stomach hurts, make your heart skip a beat when they smile at you, and know that your happiness is the most important thing," he absentmindedly murmurs when I throw my best friend an annoyed look and scowl.

"You are seriously crazy!"

Startled, he coughs up, and I narrow my eyes at him.

It seems pretty bullshit, but Dexter, Rachel, and my parents are the only few who make me want to believe in this concept of mating and having mates.

Yet, I have no interest in finding mine.

I clear my throat and walk alongside my best friend with my hands behind my back. The mood between us isn’t light anymore and we both know there are things I need to know from him. And he catches up the silence pretty quickly as he slips his phone back into his pocket and cautiously looks around to understand that we are alone on this secluded trail.

Knowingly, I raise my eyebrows, and he nods before he quietly murmurs, "Well, for the past six years, we have been sending our best trackers to find the ones who orchestrated the attack without the council's knowledge —"

I roll my eyes and huff, "Oh, don't bother finishing the sentence if it is going to be the same as last time, Lowe."

Yes, that's what I have been doing for six years: a covert operation to find those pale-faced parasites and kill them in a much more brutal way because revenge isn't what my parents wanted for me and the pack. On the outside, I act as a generous but firm leader that the pack needs. However, the rage inside me hasn't calmed down, and I know it won't.

At least, not yet.

"Best trackers and warriors, but are they really? How come the ones who attacked our pack seem to be hiding so well from us?" I ridicule under my breath when my Beta blurts out. "Actually, we got a tip."

"What?" I straighten up and snap as I glower, "You got a tip and you couldn't start with that?"

Dex shrugs.

"Ugh!" I run a hand through my hair and sigh, "So, what is it? What did you get about those motherfuckers?"

Dex takes his time while I impatiently frown at him. "Well, Flora's group found a man at a local inn." Flora is my Gamma or third-in-command.

"Here?" I raise my eyebrows.

He shakes his head. "No. It's some 500 miles away where Flora's group hit a breakthrough in this case."

Okay.

"It seems that the man was either directly involved in the crime scene or had witnessed the crime from afar that night six years ago."

I clench my fist and my wolf growls. "And, where is the man now?"

"He recognized our members and immediately made a run, but she tells me that he would be coming back —" he pauses and gapes at me as I walk past him, but he grabs my wrist and makes me turn to him. "Hey, where are you going?"

I frown and shrug. "What? Shouldn't we go and interrogate that son of a b***h? I need to know whom he had conspired with or his boss."

"And what about my dad and the elders, huh?" He lets go of me and sighs, "Do you even know that you are on their radar after that last attack on innocent vampires crossing the borders?"

I snarl, "There are no innocent vampires here, and I thought you handled it well."

He rubs his temple and sighs, "I did, but still. You have to be careful. I have been ordered to bring our wolves back, Alpha. We all have to be careful, especially when everyone is keen to follow the former Luna's wish to look out for you and not let you stray —"

I scoff, "As if I care."

After one last glance, I make a run into the woods.