The Alpha's Children - Book 1: Ume

The First Female Alpha

I fell asleep shortly after my bath. I didn’t even remember lying down on the bed, I was woken by a knock on the door. “One moment.” My voice was heavy and groggy. I set up on the bed and rubbed my eyes. “Who is it?” I asked, remembering where I was.

“It’s Ukina, I am here to help you get ready for the event.” The small voice barely reached my ears, if I was a regular human I doubt I would even have heard her.

I straightened up on the bed slightly. “Come in.” I yawned. I looked over at the door as it opened just enough for Ukina to enter. She was carrying a dress bag and a very large makeup box. I shook my head a little at myself seeing it. She was very small and her hands were full.

She set everything up on the vanity across from the bed. “I’ll just be a moment.” She said, then walked out of the bedroom, leaving the door open. After just a couple of minutes, she came back in with a silver tray that had a tea set on it. It was really pretty. “Don’t worry, It’s coffee.” She said, blushing a little. “I was told you preferred coffee to tea.” She added.

I give her a soft smile as I remove the blankets and stand up. I stretched before walking over and taking a seat at the vanity. I reach to pour a cup of coffee but Ukina beats me to it and pours the cup. I nodded in thanks and added some cream. “So what is so special about this morning that the Alpha decided to pick out my clothes?” I asked her, taking a sip of my coffee.

“It’s a holiday for us.” She answered, turning my chair away from the mirror and facing her. She opened the makeup box and carefully laid some things out, then arranged some brushes. “This is actually my first time attending to, but I will make you look perfect, I promise.”

“It’s okay, I believe you.” I told her, then took another sip of my coffee. I set my cup down so Ukina could do my makeup. I didn’t pay much attention to what she did. I was never the type to do makeup much, maybe once or twice a year, the mate ball, the alpha’s meetings and that was about it.

She put foundation all over my face and used a lot of eyeliner and lipstick and some stuff that I didn’t even know what was. At times she reapplied some of the same things, doing my makeup seemed to take forever. I didn’t get a chance to look at my reflection as she was working, but I felt like she had put enough on to make me look like a completely different person.

She took a step behind me and started to brush my hair and part it in all different directions. I closed my eyes and let her work, pulling my hair in all different directions. Soon it was all put up and had some pieces lying in the front that curled around my chin. “You look so beautiful,” Ukina said with a smile.

After admiring her work for a few minutes, Ukina went to the dress bag and opened it. She smiled to herself then pulled out the outfit. I looked in horror when she held it up. “Am I supposed to wear that in public?” I asked in surprise. There wasn’t much on an outfit.

She hung the dress on the bedpost. “Just try it?” I took a breath and nodded, Ukina squealed in happiness, then started taking the dress off the hangers. I stood up and started to undress. Werewolves were used to seeing each other naked, so I didn’t really care about being undressed in front of Ukina.

Ukina holds the skirt down for me to step into and slides it up. It was nice and flowey, it rested on my hips and went all the way down to the floor and was made of tulle. I twisted a little and watched the skirt wave around me. The skirt I loved, it was a light beige color and was so long it covered my feet. The took was a corset, white with gold trim.I took a deep breath and held it as Ukina squeezed me into it.

After she finished, I took a breath. I was happy to see that I could breathe normally. I closed my eyes as I turned to look at myself in the mirror. I gasped at my reflection, was I always this beautiful? I placed my hand on my stomach and felt the fabric. “Ukina… It’s wonderful.” I even had little white flowers in my hair.

I turned back around and looked at Ukina with a smile. I saw that she was holding a small box in her hand. She opened the box and inside there were a pair of earrings in the shape of werewolf fangs. “They are real fangs.” She said as I reached and touched the bone. Ukina took the earrings and started putting them into my ears. “They’ve been blessed.” She told me.

After she finished putting them in my ear, I walked over to the bedside table and took the hair clasp that my sister gave me and handed it to Ukina. “Do you think you can work this into my hair? It’s important to me.” She nodded and smiled as she took the clasp and clipped it in the front of my hair. I turned back to the mirror and smiled again.

“If you will excuse me, Alpha, I have to go get ready now. If you make your way down the stairs your pack should already be there. Someone will escort you to the ceremony grounds,” Ukina explained.

I smiled at her then lifted my skirt to show my feet. “Ukina, I don’t have any shoes to wear with this.” I exclaimed.

She laughed a little bit. “We don’t wear shoes to the ceremony, Alpha.” She gathered her stuff and I just shrugged my shoulders and headed out of the room. When I placed my hand on the handrail of the stairs, I could see my father, Kreon, Jessy and Liam already downstairs and they all looked up at me.

I suddenly felt very underdressed. I took a deep breath and walked down the stairs. I smiled up at my father. “Hi dad.” He smiled at me and offered me his arm. I took it and waited. Jessy was dressed similar to me except her skirt was green and her corset was black with green trim. All the men were wearing khakis and no skirts. They were also not wearing any shoes.

“Do you know what this ceremony is, Dad?” I asked. He just kind of shrugged his shoulders then pointed back up the stairs. I turned around and my breath caught in my throat when I saw her.

“Alpha Thalia.” I whispered under my breath.” She was beautiful. She had long blonde hair tied up in a warrior braid. She was wearing the same kind of skirt as mine but it was pure white, and a gold corset that was a bit shorter than mine. She had a beautiful flower crown and wore a necklace that looked like the earring that I was wearing.

“Alpha Gabriel, Lunarflare family, welcome to Terra Firma.” her voice was very powerful and filled the room. Alpha Thalia demanded attention when she spoke. Her aura was very powerful and I was excited to get to meet her again. I watched as she descended the stairs and made her way toward us.

Alpha Thalia shook my father's hand and I was astonished when she grabbed my shoulders and planted a kiss right on my lips. “Ume, it is so good to see you again, come my love, I will escort you.” She quickly took my arm from my father and looped it in hers. “Have you found your mate yet?” She asked casualty.

I shook my head at her question. “No Alpha, I’m not sure I even have a mate, and anyway, I don’t have time for all that right now.”

I jumped a little when she laughed loudly. “Well if you don’t find your mate by the time you’re twenty-five, then come back here and we can mark each other and take the world by storm.” She added, I blushed a little and my eyes fell on the seven marks across her neck and collarbone. Alpha Thalia just smiled at me as we kept walking. She then leaned in and whispered, “You can have more than one, love.” She gave me a little wink as he walked out the door.

I looked over the yard and it seemed that the entire Terra Firma pack was gathered around. I smiled, looking at all the faces that were looking at us. Everyone was dressed like the rest of us. I was scared at first, being dressed like this, but seeing everyone, I felt a lot better.

Everyone bowed their heads as we walked past them and separated, making a path to the middle. There we all stood while the rest of the Terra Firma pack stood around us. “Terra Firma!” Alpha Thalia’s voice boomed. “Welcome Alpha Gabriel and our family from Lunarflare pack.” There was a loud shouting of welcome from the rest of the pack then it fell silent again. “Just like we do every year we are gathered to light the fires of fall, and I am happy that our friends could join us.” She announced and there was loud cheering again.

The crowd on the other side of us opened and we started to walk again. When we reached the end, I saw a huge pyre all set up and seven men, all whom I assumed were Thalia’s mates, two of them holding torches. The two holding the fire walked up to Thalia and me, each handing one of us the torch. I followed Thalia up to the pyre. “This year the future Alpha of the Lunarflare pack with assist me in lighting the first fire of fall.”

Thalia turned to me and nodded and, at the same time, her and I lit the fire with our torches and I followed her lead as she handed her torch back to the man who handed it to her. I did the same. She walked over to me and took my hand and lifted it in the air. The crowd cheered again.

“Our fires at Terra Firma will burn bright to keep us warm through the winter, they will cook our food, soothe our souls. It will be a place to worship, a place for us to gather and send praise to the Moon Goddess and, if need be, they will burn the flesh of the wicked.” The cheers break out again. “Everyone take the time today to welcome our friends, build strong alliances so that our children can have a safe future.”

She finally let go of my hand as the crowd cheered even louder and pulled me in for a hug and whispered. “We have to stand up and fight for women, Ume.” She gave me another wink then addressed the crowd again. “Let's go eat.”

As soon as she said that, men from the crowd wandered off and came back carrying long picnic tables that were quickly covered with white and beige cloths and some of the women returned carrying all sorts of foods and soon the tables were covered with a feast. Thaila pulled me to her table so that I could sit next to her. My father sat in front of her where Jessy, Kreon and Liam sat at other tables talking to other Terra Firma pack members.

I looked down at my plate of food before lifting my fork and taking a bite of the eggs. “Alpha Thalia, how was your venture to Lycan country?” I looked over at my father when he spoke, half believing that he just asked her that. I didn”t believe that it would be right to ask such things. It seemed a bit like prying into her personal life a little.

I looked over at Alpha Thalia at the sound of her chuckle. “So you did hear about that then.” My father didn’t answer, instead he just chose to take a sip from his cup. “The kingdom is beautiful.” She finally answered. “They have such an amazing waterfall in town, like nothing I’ve ever seen before.” She took another sip of her drink while thinking. “I met with the monstrous Lycan king, it’s true. And it’s just as you claimed, he isn’t interested in an alliance.” She finished, picking up her fork.

“And why should he be?” I asked, butting into the conversation. “I don’t ever remember learning anything about the Lycans ever losing a battle to any threat while I was in school. They barely ever come out of their homelands”, I added.

My father chuckled a little. “You are quite right my dear.” He said quickly, taking a bite of food. “But I did invite them to the Mating Ball and they accepted.”

He said it so fact and nonchalant that I almost choked on my food, causing Thalia to slap me on my back. “You what?” I almost screamed. “They accepted?” I added, shocked.

“I need an invitation to that party, Alpha Gabriel” Thaila said, I could tell by the look on her face that she was amused.

“I have already invited Ukina. I will make sure my sister gets formal invitations out soon. It seems like father only thought of sending one.” My father chuckled. I was unamused.

“Well Ume, your sister knows a great deal about throwing parties, but I assumed she wouldn’t have thought about sending an invitation there, and I thought, since the journey was much longer, they would need more time to prepare if accepted, which they did.” He continued eating his food like this was the most normal thing in the world

Thalia had a huge grin on her face. “It’s very exciting, Alpha Gabriel. Who knows, maybe Ume will be mated to the lycan king himself.” She nudged me with her elbow and I instantly wanted to vomit even thinking about it. “Come Ume, he is very handsome.”

I laughed a little and nudged her back. “You are the only one that would know.” I teased her, biting down on a bacon strip. “Plus, that party isn’t even until next year. They might even change their minds by then.”

“Well, by then you will be Alpha of Lunarflare. Just make sure they don’t.” My father interrupted and I just rolled my eyes at him not really knowing what I could do to persuade the lycans. I’d never even met one.

The rest of our day at Terra Firma went by uneventfully. Alpha Thalia introduced me to all her mates, her Betta and, oddly enough, she had a Gamma. Both were women. Her warriors were also made up of mostly women, all quick to tell me their stories of their life before joining the Terra Firma pack. A lot of the tales were sad. These women had been through a lot and it made me respect their Alpha even more. She was an amazing woman.

We left a few hours after nightfall, Alpha Thalia gave another thunderous speech and we agreed to see each other again at the mating ball next year. Thankfully, our car didn’t get anymore cramped as we left. I don’t know where anyone else would have set if Liam found his mate on this trip

“So where to next, Dad?” I asked as we exited through the gates of Terra Firma.

“The Silver Adder pack.” He answered simply with a tone in his voice like he wasn’t as excited about going there as he was about coming to Terra Firma. This time I followed Liam’s lead and put some earbuds in so I could rest and listen to music. Somehow, I thought this ride would be a lot longer.