Mateless Alpha

Chapter Five

Third Person's POV

Anna! Camila! Hurry, your cousin Ace is almost here!" The urgency in her voice echoed through the house, each syllable filled with excitement and impatience. She glanced anxiously at the wall clock, a small gasp escaping her lips as she realized they should have left thirty minutes ago. If they don't leave soon, they wouldn't make it to Visiondale before the full moon.Time was slipping away like sand through her fingers, and the thought made her heart race.

"We are coming, Mum!" Anna's voice floated down the stairs, laced with frustration and urgency matching her mother's.

"If you two don't come down in the next minute, I am going to leave without you. I can't wait to see my son." Her threat held weight, and the girls knew it. With hurried movements, they emerged from their rooms, Camila's hair still a chaotic mess.

"But mum, it's barely Seven," Anna protested softly, wiping away excess makeup in haste.

"We were supposed to leave at 6:30 am. I don't even know why Ace is delaying," she muttered, a furrow forming on her brow.

As if summoned by his name, a knock sounded at the door, diverting their attention like a magnet. Camila opened it only to find Ace standing in the doorway, a sheepish smile playing on his lips, his presence a soothing balm to their frayed nerves.

"Oh, there he is. I hope you all have everything we need," she said briskly, scanning the room once more for forgotten items before ushering her daughters out, ensuring she was the last to leave.

"Sorry, Aunt Grace, for the delay. Mum needed help urgently." Ace's voice was apologetic, a touch of guilt coloring his words as he stepped forward to assist with the bags.

"What matters is that you are here. Shall we go?"

Ace nodded and stowed the bags in the car. His auntie Grace settled into the passenger seat, a sense of calm washing over her like a gentle wave, while her daughters took their places in the back, bracing themselves for the long journey. The atared at their hpuse as Ace pulled away, acelerating the car. As the distance between them and the hose increased, the car was filled with a defeaning silence.

"How is your brother? Heard from him?" Luna Grace's voice cut through the silence like a knife, curiosity dancing in her eyes.

"He is good, I guess. I heard he will be going to Visiondale too." Ace's reply was casual as he shrugged his shoulders.

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"What is this place? Mum, are you sure we are at the right place?" Ishtar wrinkled her nose in disgust as she surveyed the cobweb-infested cave before them.

"Yes, we are. This is where he brought me the other time," her mother replied with a determined nod, her eyes scanning the surroundings with familiarity.

"What in hell is a cave doing in the middle of a city?" Ishtar's incredulity was clear in her voice, a combination of disbelief and curiosity in her words. She was also confused since Caves belonged in remote forests, not nestled within city parks.

"I don't know. Follow me," her mother urged, beckoning Ishtar to trail behind her. They walked around the cave's perimeter, finally reaching the back where a humble hut stood. Ishtar couldn't help but release a relieved sigh, thankful that they wouldn't have to go into the cave itself.

A young boy approached them and welcomed them into the hut. After, a very old man, probably in his ninth decade came out from an inner room. He looked blind but was not having a cane nor was anyone leading him.

"Welcome Athaliah wife of Hercules, our great Alpha. To what do I owe this visit?"

His utterances left Ishtar in awe. How the hell did he know who they are when he can't see?

"Good morning, seeker, and thank you for welcoming us to your humble home. I am here with my daughter Ishtar because we need your help with answers that only you will know. It's about my grandson. He is exhibiting strange attitudes that make it impossible for him to dwell among humans," Athaliah spoke with reverence, her tone conveying her concern for her family.

The old man, with his weathered face and sightless eyes, let out a hearty laugh that caught Athaliah and Ishtar off guard.

"There is a repetition of history," he finally spoke, his voice carrying wisdom born of many years. "Your son's wolf is very strong and of a very rare type. These kinds of wolves are trained and raised by their Alpha fathers. The further he is from his father, the less control you will have over him. Additionally, he is a lycan and a future alpha, meaning his strength surpasses that of any other in your pack, even his father's."

Ishtar's eyes widened in astonishment. "But how can he be a Lycan?" she pressed, her mind racing with questions and disbelief mingling in her voice.

"He is the replica of your grandfather, Alpha Gael."

"Alpha Gael? My grandad was an Alpha?" Ishtar's voice trembled with disbelief, her mind struggling to reconcile this revelation with the narrative she had always known. She had never heard of her family being anything other than descendants of slaves, forever bound to serve the royals. The idea that her grandfather had been an Alpha felt like a seismic shift in her understanding of her own identity. She never met her grandfather; he passed away before she was born, leaving behind only whispers of his legacy.

"Mum? What is he saying? Is it true?" She turned to her mother, seeking confirmation, but her question was met with a heavy silence. Athaliah's lips pressed into a thin line, her expression was of guilt. She had always shielded her children from this truth, knowing that revealing it would unravel a web of secrets and potentially ignite a desire for revenge.

"Mum, is what he just said true? Was Grandpa an Alpha? Tell me!" She pressed on for an answer, leaving her mother with no choice but to confront the truth she had long kept hidden. As she met her daughter's gaze, she knew that revealing the secrets of their family's past would irrevocably alter their lives, unleashing a tide of emotions and desires for justice that could not be contained. But it was time for the truth to be known, no matter the cost.

"Yes, yes! Your grandfather was an Alpha. He ruled over two tribes in Albania. When he died in the war against the hunters of the west, your father, Hercules, was made Alpha at a very young age, even before your brother, Evans, was born," Athaliah's voice quivered with the weight of generations-old secrets as she unraveled the hidden truths of their family's legacy.

"Oh no! Dad too? Then how come we became slaves? What happened if dad was the Alpha? Why was I born into s*****y?" Ishtar's questions poured out in a torrent of confusion, anger, and hurt. The revelation shattered the foundation of everything she had believed about her family and her place in the world.

"I-I-I..." Athaliah paused, her own emotions threatening to overwhelm her as she struggled with the painful memories and truths she had long kept buried.

"Tell me the truth. Don't ever think of lying to me. I deserve to know!"Ishtae spoke through clenched teth, her eyes ablaze with a fierce aim to uncover the reality of her existence, no matter how painful it might be.

"After the war that took away your grandfather, another one was waged, but it was too harsh for your dad to handle, so he called out for his best friend, Maximus, to help win victory, but he... he..." She chocked on her words as she snuffled back the tears that were running down her face.

"He betrayed your father and helped the hunters win. Luckily, your father survived, but Maximus captured him and took everything away from him, including his throne, and made us slaves. That was when I gave birth to your younger brother Rowan. You were only two at the time," Athaliah recounted, her eyes brimming with more tears that mirrored the pain of betrayal and loss.

"Your son is the true Alpha. The Lycan blood runs in your blood, and it's stronger in him. He will rise up against the same father that trained him, and he will be superior to him. From today, he shall no longer be called Ryan but Ajani because he is going to win the struggle," the old man interjected.

"I can not go back to Visiondale. I will never in a hundred years do that."

"You have no choice dear, The older he gets without his father, the weaker he will be and you might lose contol over him. You need to go back. Nothing will work for him here!" He said with finality and dismissed them by walking away, leaving them behind.

"Mum!"

Her mother was quiet, pondering over what they have been told.

"You know I can't go back there. We have been banished! Even if we weren't, I cannot deal with the memories that I left behind. What if he is lying?!"

"That is the only way to save Ryan. The seeker is always accurate in whatever he says. He was your grandfather's advisor. When Maximus took over the ruling of the tribes, he asked him to be on his team and be his beta, yet he refused. Due to this, he was banished. If there is something I know about him, then it's the fact that he is an upright man. He doesn't support evil, and he always speaks the truth."

As they conversed, delving deep into the implications of the seeker's words, their steps carried them back to their car without them even realizing it.

"You can do this," Athaliah reassured her daughter, her voice soft.

"How am I going to face him and his mother? The woman who destroyed my face and my life. His father destroyed my family. Because of his family, Dad, Evans, and Rowan are dead. I hate them! I hate them with everything in me. How then can I entrust my son to his care? No, I can't! I will never do that!" Ishtar's words spilled out in pain and anger, her emotions raw and unfiltered.

"Didn't you hear what he said? It's for Ryan's own good that he is in Visiondale. He needs the education. It's all in the past; let it go and be happy. Besides, no one will recognize you. You are no longer the old Ishtar," Athaliah reasoned, her voice a soothing balm to her daughter's pain.

Flashback

Ishtar's POV

"Ahhhh, it hurts. Mummy! Mummy mum........." The agony in my voice echoed through the sterile hospital room. I felt mum run to me, taking my right hand in hers.

"Yes, baby, I am here. You are awake?"Her voice sounded hoarse like someone who has been crying but it was thick with emotion, offering a semblance of comfort in the darkness that enveloped me.

"Mum, why is there darkness and my face hurts?" I struggled to make sense of the pain that engulfed me, every movement sending waves of agony through my body.The pain was unbearable, a searing agony that engulfed me like flames licking at my skin, and the darkness seemed to press in on me from all sides, suffocating and disorienting.

"Where am I and why can't I see you?" I demanded, my voice rising in panic, my heart pounding in my chest like a trapped bird desperate for escape.

"You are at the hospital, something poured on you," my mother's words pierced through the fog of my confusion, their gravity sinking in like heavy stones in the pit of my stomach.

I tried to remember what happened, the events leading up to this moment a blur of fragmented images and sensations. And then it hit me like a bolt of lightning – Luna Grace. She poured acid on me. She did this to me.

"No!!!!" The word escaped my lips in a guttural cry of despair, my body reacting with uncontrollable tremors as the reality of my disfigurement sank in. The bandages wrapped around my face felt suffocating, a cruel reminder of the irreversible damage inflicted upon me.

"What has she done?.... What has she done?!" I repeated the words like a broken record, each utterance laced with raw anguish and disbelief, tears seeping through the bandages.

"Babe, relax. Please relax." Mum wailed with me.

"Babe, relax. Please, relax," my mother's voice was a desperate plea, a lifeline thrown to me in the midst of the storm raging within.

"Hey, you are going to be fine. The doctors did surgery on you, and they have repaired your face. In no time, you will be back to being yourself, and your baby is fine," she added

"Baby? What baby?"

Three Months Later

"How are you feeling today?" My doctor, Mrs. Bradson asked.

"I am fine, Thank you," I said calmly. I have long ago gotten over the trauma and I have learned to accept my fate. But deep within me, I wanted revenge. I wanted to make them pay for what they have done to me. Because of them, I will not be able to have a normal life again.

"That's good. Are you ready to see your new face?"

End Of Flashback