Alpha's Imprinted

Chapter 3

Maddox's POV

"What are you doing here?" I ask Ian when I spot him on the rooftop, just staring at the stars.

"I just can't sleep. What about you?" Ian asks me back and I sit beside him, looking at the stars and dodging his question.

He doesn't ask anything. We both sit silently, zoning into space and wondering how we are going to spend tomorrow. It is my mom's death anniversary.

The past two days, I did everything in my power to keep myself busy. I even had a meeting with the Alphas of neighboring packs. But the inevitable day is still here.

"It has been years, and I still regret going on the trip" Ian says and I look at him.

"It wasn't your fault. And if you ask me, you are alive because you weren't there" I tell him.

"I did not get a chance to see her one last time" Ian whispers and I know that he is crumpling deep inside because of the same reason.

"Trust me, brother. You cannot get that image out of your head. It's horrible" I say and he nods.

We both sit in silence until Ian breaks it again when he asks,"when is Kelsie coming?"

"Tomorrow," I whisper.

"When is everything going to get better, brother?" Ian asks me and he looks at me.

"To be honest, I don't know" I say and we both have frowns on our faces.

Ian was the closest to mom. The only time he was ever far from her was that one trip he still regrets.

We both stayed that way in silence for what seemed like an hour and eventually went back to our own rooms. We both know we cannot sleep tonight. But we need to get as little as possible even. To look a tad bit presentable tomorrow.

The whole pack would be mourning and all the packs would remember their Queen. For what she was. Someone who did not want to sit back in the safe house when a war broke. She fought till her very last breath. She was a Queen when she wanted to be and a warrior when she was needed.

Now I can easily imprint on anyone because I lost my mate, but being my mate also comes with a package. That includes becoming the Queen of werewolves. And I am not sure if someone is as eligible as my mother.

I stare at the ceiling, trying my best to sleep. But thousands of thoughts run through my mind making it impossible for me to sleep. Flashbacks when I was seven year old, running through the forest with my sister with me. She ran for a while and I threw her on my shoulders for a while until she was a little less tired.

I had to come home to find dead bodies all the way. My mother was dead. Ian came back from his friend's pack to know that mother is no more. At the age of seven, I took their responsibility because dad slowly slipped away.

For him, losing his mate and losing a war to his friend seemed bigger than the fact that his three children were crying to sleep. For years, my dad mourned for my mother while I took care of everything else. By the age eleven, I was already introduced as the Alpha's heir and I took the title when I was just sixteen.

As if that was the eye opener to my father, he finally became sober. But that doesn't change anything. Doesn't change the fact that his sixteen year old son had to grow up on his own and become an Alpha at such a young age. It doesn't change the fact that his second child, fifteen year old Ian is always into books because he copes his ways like that. It doesn't change the fact that thirteen year old Kelsie was starting to hit her puberty and he missed all the chances to watch her grow up.

I come from a messed up family. And so I did everything in my capacity to at least let my brother and sister know that their brother is always there for them. I basically dedicated my life to Ian and Kelsie.

I sigh and turn to my side. I imagine that Deborah is by my side.

I smile at Deborah. She smiles back at me. I close my eyes and feel her hand on my cheek. I know all of this is my imagination and that when I open my eyes again, there will be no Deborah.

So I don't try opening my eyes. I close my eyes and lay there until I hear birds chirping. I might have dozed off a little but I did not sleep.

I open my eyes and sure enough, I am alone. I turn around to see the sunrise. I stand up and through the window I see the pack members busy with something.

I take a look at the clock and I have two hours left till I attend the remembrance meet of the former Queen. We all recall the brutal incident. And pray for every lost soul in the battle. It had been twenty one years but our pack is still wounded by the loss of so many people.

I take a long shower and find words to say during the meeting. Usually, I don't speak anything but I have to. I need to address everything and everyone. If someone told me that being first born in a werewolf Royal family would be like this.. I wouldn't take the offer.

I walk out of the shower and throw on my black and white tux. I stare into the mirror and slowly, the restlessness is showing in my face. The bags under my eyes, the tired face, getting irritated for absolutely no reason. I can see it all. And if I can see, people can see too.

I look at myself through the mirror one last time before walking out. Even the pack house is busy today. I look around once to see everyone doing something or the other.

"Good morning, Alpha" Lucia greets me and I nod at her with a half smile.

"The meet will start in an hour" she says and I look around to see everyone still here doing something. Or pretending to be doing something.

"Then why are all these people still here?" I ask her and she shrugs.

I pay close attention and indeed, they are doing nothing. Someone is pretending to be wiping the floor. Someone is pretending as if they are cleaning the kitchen.

"It's much cleaner now. Get your asses up and out" I hear Kelsie's voice and I smile at that.

"Good morning brother" she laughs as she runs to me and I take her in my arms, hugging her tighter than ever.

"I missed you so so so much" Kelsie says as we pull away from hug.

"I missed you too" I say and she finally takes in my appearance.

"You need to change your ways, Maddie. You're only ruining yourself" Kelsie says with her hand on my cheek and her thumb wiping away imaginary dust.

I just smile at her and hold her hand before walking outside. I see everyone already there. And people who were working at the pack house earlier, are settling in their seats.

I see Kelsie's mate, Alpha Joel. I smile at him and he bows to me slightly. He is an amazing man. Like literally, amazing! I can talk to him for hours and hours. And I am someone who would avoid initiating conversations. With him, it just flows. His Alpha ideals, his way of understanding the core of a problem, the leadership skills.. he is a package!

Kelsie takes a seat in the front row while I walk up to the stage. Dad and Ian are by my side. Dad talks first as he addresses the war. The unfortunate times where we lost many people.

I just stare at him as he talks about the battle. I cannot help but recall all the times he said all of that was his fault. I know everyone makes mistakes, but I don't know what someone can do to provoke a war.

Yet, I remain silent. I wait till it is my turn to talk and everyone bows to me once I take a step forward. I nod once so they can sit back in their chairs.

"Twenty one years ago, we lost many lives. On both sides. But the loss hit us hard because we lost our Queen. I would like to address her as our Queen rather than my mother. Because that is how I remember her. She died fighting. She died saving lives. She didn't want to sit back and protect me or my sister. She wanted to charge forward so she could protect everyone. I can definitely say there is and will never be a Queen like her" I say and I see tears in people's eyes.

I take a deep breath before talking again.

"Our pack always believed in unity. Our Queen was protecting her pack, and her pack was protecting her the same way. Along with our Queen many warriors lost their loves the same day. But we must all remember, that they were fighting for us" I say and I blink back the tears.

"So this day, every year we celebrate their memories as remembrance day. Call it a black day if you don't like it. If you don't believe in such days, then don't pay attention. If you think we are celebrating their deaths, then you know your way to your door. Because we are all here, I am here to celebrate their heroic lives. We survived the war but they were brave enough to die for us. If we cannot give them a day in our calendar, I don't think it would be fair in any way" I say and take a step back.

A second of dead silence later, Chloe stands and starts clapping. Followed by Chloe everyone else. I bow them a little and stand back again. Dad looks at me and smiles with pride but I don't say anything.

Ian goes on and gives his speech. But I feel suffocated. I don't want to stay here. Because the looks of pity already made their own way.

It doesn't matter even if I address her as our Queen. They still give me sympathy because she is my mother. Once Ian's speech is done, I walk down the stage and towards the pack house.

I walk to my room and close the door. Ian tries talking to me but I use my Alpha tone to just send him out. I lay on bed staring at the ceiling.

I don't know how to move on from the pain of loss. I moved on when Deborah came into my life. But with her passing away, it is the same again. I don't know what to do, at times. I look at the sky praying for a miracle to happen. But everyday is just the same. I am the Alpha and a king without a coronation. A brother who still wants to work on human land and a sister who changed her last name.

Sometimes it is just hard.

"How about we leave? Let's go somewhere" Ajax says and I sit up on the bed.

"You did your duty. You are done with the speech. And today is all about mourning. If you cannot mourn with people always watching your back, then let us go somewhere" Ajax says again.

That doesn't seem like a bad idea. But where do we go? I mean, I am the Alpha King so everyone will know me. And it's not like I can mourn for my mother in front of someone.

"Nathan's party. Zelda will be there", Ajax says.

"Okay if you are saying what Ian -"

"No. I am saying that you and I only know her on human land. Moreover, she doesn't know you. So she would not judge you for whatever you say" he says.

And I give it some thought. At first I was against the idea, but a few minutes later.. right now, I am all up for it. I can use a friend. I can use a company where they don't treat me like a king or expect something in return.

So I walk to Ian and ask him if he knows who the f**k Nathan is. Ian says he is a student from Ian's department and that he doesn't know the address.

I roll my eyes at him and spend some time talking to Alpha Joel. He is somewhat better but he wouldn't even sit at ease, because it is considered disrespectful if you don't sit straight before a Royal.

I pass the time talking to more people until it's evening. And once it's evening, I don't waste a second before driving to the human land. I drive to the college Ian teaches first. And I choose a random direction. I keep driving through all the streets in a five mile radius to see if there is a house that looks like it is hosting a party.

When I don't find any, I drive back to the college again and choose the other direction. An hour of searching later, I think I found one particular place where there are a flock of college kids and the music is too much.

I park my car a little farther in the parking space. And I observe for a while. Just to be sure if this is the one.

A few minutes later, I see Ophelia dragging Zelda. I know I don't usually see girls the other way, but Zelda is gorgeous! Her blonde hair flies to the wind like waves on the sea. The frown on her face is still cute. She is wearing a navy blue dress that reaches till her knees and she looks like she has least interest in it.

I quickly get down and lock my car. The sound prompts them both to turn around and look at me. I was so confident about all of this right now, but one look from her and I am struggling to find words.

So I look at Ophelia instead.

"Hey" I say and she looks at me in confusion.

"Do we know you?" Zelda asks first and I shake my head, turn around, walk to my car and hop in it.

Zelda and Ophelia look at me and exchange looks before they walk inside the party. I sit in my car and curse myself. I know I ruined a perfect chance.

But I sat there for a while. I don't want to go back home soon. There would be too many people. Too many questions that I dodged the entire day. Especially my dad who is ready to talk about my ways of coping up with my issues.

I groan as I look around. I know I'll have to leave, eventually. I look at myself and I cannot believe I am still in tux. I momentarily forgot about it. No wonder they thought I was a weirdo.

I rev up my engine and I am about to drive away until I hear her voice. It did not sound like her usual voice so I stopped my car and Ajax helped me with the wolf sense.

I don't know for how long I am here and I don't know what context they are talking about. But she doesn't seem fine to me.

"Take your hand off" Zelda says and she clearly sounds drunk.

"It's okay, Zelda. Just for one night" I hear a fucker's voice and that is literally it.

I get down from my car and walk in. Zelda can clearly beat the s**t out of whoever it is, but she sounds too drunk to focus on her punches.

I get weird looks from people but I follow her voice. The voice is coming from upstairs and I burst the door open, making it break and fall in two pieces.

I see half awake Zelda on bed and a boy on top of her. I punch him repeatedly until I see blood and throw him across the room. I take Zelda in my arms and there is something about her, I don't understand.

I notice Ophelia drunk too but she is at least standing. So I grab her hand and walk out. As soon as we walked out, even Ophelia passed out and I groaned. I throw Ophelia in the backseat and she is still slurring words I don't know.

I make Zelda sit in the passenger seat and put the seatbelt on. I started driving with her by my side and she occasionally opened her eyes to see me.

I did not know where to take them, so I kept driving the entire night. I took breaks for a few minutes here and there but I kept driving. Occasionally, Zelda opened her eyes and smiled at me before falling asleep again.

And I don't know what it is, but something is different about her.