Alpha's Imprinted

Chapter 2

Maddox's POV

It is awkwardly calm at the dining table. The only sounds coming from are from the forks, knives, spoons and plates meeting each other. I look around and funny enough, even Ian is silent.

I am usually not the one to initiate a conversation, I can keep it moving but I would prefer not initiating one in the first place.

Ian clears his throat and I look at him. Just one look at him can say so much. And right now, it is clear that he is plotting something against me. And it is definitely not going to be a pleasant one.

I gently shake my head with a glass at my mouth so my dad wouldn't catch my actions and communications with my brother.

"So, Maddox.. how did you like the girl today?" Ian asks and I mentally stab him.

I close my eyes and I see myself stabbing Ian again and again, but I open my eyes and smile at my baby brother.

"What girl, Ian? I look at many girls all day" I smirk at him and glare, at the same time.

"Oh! The one looking at who, you couldn't stop smiling. That one" Ian says again, and this time I imagine burying my brother alive.

"I am not interested, brother" I conclude and glare at him, but if there is anyone in the supernatural world who is immune to my glare.. then it's Ian and Kelsie.

My dad doesn't ask me about anything. Thankfully. I hear rustle in the kitchen, and through the corner of my eye I see Krystal trying her best to gain my attention.

I chew the last piece of my steak and wash it down with water. I look at Ian, my dad and their eye to eye communication. I know the moment I walk away they both will be talking about the girl today morning.

"Krystal. Chop an apple and bring me upstairs" I yell for her before walking to my room.

"How do you know her name?" Ian asks.

"Just like I know Chloe's" I tell him and walk again without turning around.

I walk to my room and sit on the bed, waiting for Krystal to come in. Just five minutes later, she walks in with a bowl of cut fruits and a fork.

She places the bowl on the table beside me and turns around to leave. I roll my eyes at the way she is acting like she is hard to get. There is literally nothing left for me to get from her.

"Where are you leaving?" I ask her and she looks at me.

"Home" she whispers.

"I think you have some time. For me" I say as I stand up from my bed and walk to her.

"Alpha?" She asks and I hold her hand, trailing it upwards towards her shoulder.

"Do you have time for me, Krystal?" I ask her and she nods, closing her eyes, leaning into my touch as I rub circles at the base of her neck.

I push her on the bed, and take her like I did this morning. Once I am done, I just ask her to get dressed and leave. She looks at me with a frown.

"I don't want my dad suspecting" I say with a fake smile and she leaves without saying a word.

I take a shower, grab the fruit bowl and sit at my desk. Sometimes, I spend my nights here in this room at my desk studying reports on different packs.

Because currently I am not just an Alpha but an Alpha King too. I just haven't had my coronation yet.

I see werewolf hunters are becoming a problem. If this keeps going on, then I will have nothing else to do other than forming allies with vampires. Because witches wouldn't help me or werewolves. Silver bullets or silver arrows won't faze vampires.

"You will kill yourself someday, Maddox" Ajax says.

"What do you mean?" I ask him back.

"You work as an Alpha and the king too. You run on three hours of sleep a day. You are a mess. This could kill you" he says again and I don't answer.

"What else can I do?" I ask him and this time, he doesn't answer me.

I place the pen on the desk and lean back into the chair. I look at the moon shining bright. I sigh just staring at the moon.

Mom's death anniversary is in two days. I loved my mom but I was closer to my dad. I was dadda's boy growing up. People used to call me a mini Charles.

But one war changed us all. It pushed my dad into something he wasn't. Because he has changed evidently. I changed too. The difference is, he changed because he wanted to. But I changed because I had to.

All these responsibilities, all these titles, heartbreaks, losing people I love.. there has been too much gloom in my twenty eight years of life.

Sometimes, I wonder what it must be like to have a normal life. Where you work all day with no titles and no regrets. Come home in the evening and your mate is waiting for you. Your children, waiting for you. You have dinner with them and talk about how your day was. You put your children to sleep reading them books. You have your mate in your arms and a smile on your face when you fall asleep. You have a smile when you wake up, because you have a purpose.

I sigh at that perfect imagination. And whenever I imagine something like this, I see Deborah's face. Her long black hair and brown eyes. The way she smiles at me. I miss her. At times like these, I miss her a little more.

I groan and finish my paperwork to send back the signatures to all the packs. Once I am done with the work, I fall on my bed and stare at the ceiling. I observe the patterns of the design on the ceiling. I pretend to be hypnotized and close my eyes. But I see my mother and I quickly open my eyes again.

Once her death anniversary is over, my mind will start believing that it's of no use and stop flashing me her images.

After lots of time and playing pretend, I finally fall asleep.

.

.

.

I opened my eyes when I could no longer sleep and look outside the window. The sun did not show up yet. I take a glance at the clock and I realize I had four hours of sleep. Which is a miracle to be considered.

For some reason, I don't want to stay in bed and act like I am sleeping. My wolf wants to run early in the morning. So I quickly dressed myself in a tee shirt and joggers.

I slowly walk downstairs without making any noise and out of the pack house. Few Omegas are sleeping in the living room. I run till the clearing and look around once before stripping naked. I give Ajax my full control and once I open my eyes, I see four brown paws instead of two legs.

Ajax wanted to howl but I told him not to. People are still sleeping and we don't want to give away our location to the werewolf hunters.

Ajax runs faster than ever and I try taking a nap but my brain doesn't just cooperate. Bitches think I am in love but in all honesty, I am in hate with myself. I am not in love.

After an hour of running, Ajax sits on the shore of the river. It is believed that on the other side of the river, witches and their Royals lived there. Now it is all just barren land and witches brewing potions all the time. They have businesses with all kinds of supernaturals. But without any King or Queen, they just don't know what to do with their land.

Ajax and I watch the sun rise. Until I see an Auburn wolf sit beside me to watch the sunset.

It is my Beta Lucia’s wolf. She or her wolf doesn't say anything. We just sit there and soak ourselves with the first rays of the sun. After what felt like an hour more, Ajax stands up and stretches himself. As if this is time for his morning workout.

Lucia's wolf runs along with mine, but when we reach the clearing.. We both run to different directions so we can shift back and throw on some clothes.

"Good morning, Alpha" Lucia greets me as soon as we both walk out.

"Morning, Lucia" I smile at her and we both start walking towards the pack.

"What woke you up so early?" She asks and I just smile at her, then shrug and leave it like that.

Because right now, I could give her a hundred answers and reasons why I woke up early today. And after that I can also go on and on about how this is happening not just today but everyday.

"What about you?" I ask her.

"Russel threw an early morning tantrum" she says and I nod.

Russel is her three year old kid. He is always running, always asking questions and always curious about everything. Exactly why I would like to stay away from that kid.

Once we reach the pack, we both walk in different ways. To everyone, I am a man of minimal words. I don't talk much. But they don't know that there are thoughts always running through my mind. I just don't let them out.

I take a shower and get dressed. Krystal walks in with my morning coffee and I ask her to take it back. She nods but stands for five minutes and I pretend I didn't notice her. But I watch her through the mirror as I comb my hair and put on a watch.

"What's wrong, Krystal?" I ask her, finally giving the attention she's been silently asking for.

"D-do you not want to-"

"I don't want to. There is something else I must do. Maybe tonight" I told her.

"Tonight?" Krystal asks, looking at me with her big gray eyes.

"Yeah. Tonight" I say smacking her ass once and walking outside.

But deep down both Ajax and I know that I won't call her tonight too. Slowly, I am growing tired of Krystal too. She plays hard to get, gives in easily and once she gives in, she is already expecting it to be a daily thing.

I mean, I am the freaking Alpha and King in making. I have tons of work to do. I walk to the office, call in all the patrol teams and have a meeting. Knowing the status and any unusual activity.

Just like I said, the werewolf hunters are becoming a problem. And few humans are just joining the crew because they feel this is the new cool thing to do. Sometimes I wish to just walk to human territory and beat up every single person I come across.

Once the meet with patrol is done, I walk to the hospital to see how everything is going on and if we need new equipment. When the pack doctor told me that the diseases and random injuries declined by a large scale, I smiled and thanked him before walking out.

By now I know it must be time for Ian to leave for his college. So I walk to the pack house knowing he won't be there. The way he exposed me yesterday at dinner is still too much to handle.

When I am at the main door, I see Ian and quickly turn around but he already saw me. f**k my freaking life!

"Maddox!" He screams as he runs towards me.

"Ian" I say with no expression in my voice.

"No one repaired my flat tire and I am already late" he groans and I quickly mindlink Lucia's mate Emanuel to see what he can do about this.

I tilt my head asking him to hop in my car and he does. He sits in the passenger seat and starts grading papers. I pay him no attention as I drive.

"Her name is -"

"Don't even talk about it" I say and he chuckles.

"I am just pulling your leg. I know there is no one for you except Deborah" he says and finishes grading papers just when we enter human territory.

I drive silently and Ian says I can leave if I want to. I look at my brother walking away and I just look at him until he is out of my sight. He means so much to me. I wonder if he is ever going to know that.

I rev the engine up again but I see her walking with another girl. She is laughing wholeheartedly. Her head was thrown back and a wide smile. I use my werewolf hearing sense a little bit just to hear what got her laughing like that.

"There is no way I am going on a date with that boy. I mean, he is epitome of toxic masculinity" she says and I shrug at that.

I noticed her involuntarily. Her blonde hair reaches her waist. I use my werewolf vision to properly notice her eye color. She has these hazel coloured eyes, that twinkle because she is laughing wholeheartedly. She is dressed in a hoodie even though it is warm today.

"Hey Zelda!" Someone screams at her and she waves at them as a greeting.

Zelda.

"There's a party this Saturday in Nathan's house. Want to come?" He asks and I look at her. She feels uncomfortable.

"Definitely. She and I will both be there" the girl beside her, answers for her and I don't think the girls are doing a good thing.

"Cool" the guy says and walks away, but not without turning around to look at Zelda's ass. She is drop dead gorgeous, to be honest. There is no wonder why guys wouldn't ask her out on a date.

"Ophelia! That wasn't necessary" Zelda says to the girl as soon as the guy leaves.

"You cannot sit in your room all night reading novels, Zelda. Moreover I want to have fun too. Now let us leave before my hot ass professor Ian walks in" Ophelia says, dragging Zelda towards the campus.

Hot ass professor Ian. Alright. That is very much uncomfortable for me to listen and question myself about what is so hot about my younger brother.

"I should go to the library," Zelda protests.

"You read almost half of the romance genre books. You need to read textbooks, Zelda! Your grades are dropping" Ophelia says.

I drove back to the pack but this time, I cannot deny. There is something about the girl. She is interesting. She is someone who would sit in her room all day and night to read novels. But at the same time she is someone who would punch and kick a group of guys because they are rude. She is also someone who can label some guy as toxic masculinity and yet feels uncomfortable when she doesn't know how to reject an offer.

She has a personality. A character. Something this generation girls don't have. Her name is interesting too. Zelda. Rolls off my tongue easily.

"Zelda" Ajax says again and I calmly drive back to the pack.